Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-289) and index

In 1939 the Savage Mountain claimed its first victim. Born into vast wealth yet uneasy with a life of leisure, Dudley Wolfe, of Boston and Rockport, Maine, set out to become the first man to climb K2, the world's second-highest mountain and, in the opinion of mountaineers, an even more formidable challenge than Mt. Everest. Although close to middle age and inexperienced at high altitude, Wolfe, with the team leader, made it higher than any other members of the expedition, but he couldn't get back down. Suffering from altitude sickness and severe dehydration, he was abandoned at nearly 25,000 feet; it would be another sixty-three years before Jennifer Jordan discovered his remains. Here, readers follow Wolfe from the salons of Europe to the most forbidding landscape on earth.--From publisher description

The Godwin-Austen Glacier, K2, July 2002 -- An invitation to the ends of the earth -- The gentleman soldier and sailor -- Climbing's controversial genius -- The 1939 American K2 Expedition Team -- The getting there -- The climb -- A family waits -- The highest men on earth -- The descent -- The last man on the mountain -- Dudley's vigil -- Coming home -- The reckoning -- The world's highest graveyard

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